Woman denied bond in Colorado hostage, fatal shooting incident
By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A woman was ordered held without bond on suspicion of attempted murder stemming from an incident in which she and a male companion took two Colorado officers hostage before the man was fatally shot, prosecutors said on Wednesday. In addition to two counts of attempted murder, Georgie Hand, 43, faces charges of kidnapping, disarming a peace officer, felony menacing and aggravated robbery, the Moffat County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The two officers - a sheriff's deputy and a state parks ranger - were checking out reports on Monday of a suspicious vehicle near the town of Dinosaur, about 10 miles from the Utah state line in northwestern Colorado, authorities said. After confronting a man and a woman in the vehicle, later identified as James Damon and Hand, the two officers were “briefly” taken hostage by the couple, the prosecutors' office said in its statement. “A struggle ensued during which the male suspect ... was fatally shot and the female, Hand, was taken into custody,” according to the statement. Damon, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Michael Porras said. Neither officer was injured in the altercation, and both were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Authorities have not disclosed how Damon was shot, and no further details of the incident were immediately available. Hand and Damon were fugitives wanted under warrants issued in Mississippi, and were suspected in a series of vehicle break-ins in south-central Colorado, about 200 miles southeast of where the shooting occurred, the sheriff's office in Chaffee County, Colorado, said in a statement. “Officer-safety bulletins were also sent out ... to all law enforcement agencies statewide and to surrounding states as well based on the suspects' criminal histories and information received through the investigation,” the statement said. Hand was denied bail after a bond hearing on Wednesday and will be formally charged on Thursday, prosecutors said. She was due back in court for a preliminary hearing on April 22. (Editing by Steve Gorman)
